Asian company to build Vegas casino

Panda habitats, tea gardens and red pagodas never have been part of the visual vocabulary of the Las Vegas Strip. But Sin City is about to get all three and much more as a Malaysian conglomerate prepares to build the first new mega- casino to come to town since the recession wiped out a slew of projects in 2008.

The Genting Group announced Monday that it will break ground in 2014 on the 87-acre site where the partially built Echelon project has sat for nearly five years, put on indefinite hold by Boyd Gaming Corp.

Executives said they are launching the new project despite continued softness in Las Vegas gambling revenue because they are ideally positioned to capitalize on the flood of Asian tourists flocking to the Strip.

Monster Beverage responds to lawsuit

NEW YORK

Monster Beverage is hitting back at a lawsuit alleging its energy drinks were responsible for the death of a 14-year-old Maryland girl, saying that no blood test was performed to confirm that the girl died of “caffeine toxicity.”

The disclosure comes amid intensifying scrutiny of energy drinks and their caffeine levels. A lawsuit filed last year by the family of Anais Fournier said the girl went into cardiac arrest after drinking two, 24-ounce cans of Monster drinks in a 24-hour period. The Food and Drug Administration also is investigating reports of deaths linked to energy drinks, including five that cite Monster beverages. The agency has noted that the reports don’t prove the drinks caused the deaths.